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He was pondering "the possibility of entering other dimensions through a rotational motion and contemplated the relation of the linear measurement of pi to a sphere," when he came up with the idea of honoring pi with its very own day, the Exploratorium says.
When Shaw's daughter told him that March 14 was also Albert Einstein's birthday, the Pi holiday took hold.
The Greek letter pi looks like two columns at Stonehenge with a plank across the top. Pi, the number, is irrational and transcendental, meaning it will go on forever after the decimal without repeating a pattern.
With the help of computers, pi has been calculated to over a trillion digits past the decimal, which is why most people refer to it as plain old 3.14.
Americans tend to celebrate Pi Day with pies or pizzas, which are, generally speaking, round in shape, not to mention the fact that pie rhymes with pi, and pizza starts with it.
US technology company Raytheon on Monday delivered apple pies to schools within a 3.14-mile radius of the company's Massachusetts headquarters to celebrate Pi Day.
Music for the pie or pizza dinner could be the violin piece by Steven Rochen that uses the first 220 digits of pi after the decimal.
But Americans aren't the only ones who celebrate Pi Day. A German website (pi.highsign.de) allows users to compose their own pi song, choosing instruments, rhythmic speed and how many digits after the decimal they want their composition to run for.
Ukrainian artist Andrey Larionov has completed a mosaic called "Chaos" which is based on 100,000 digits of pi after the decimal -- or after the comma, as is the case in Ukraine and much of Europe.
But for a really good time on Pi Day, fans can call the US number (253) 243-2504 and hear a computer voice read out the digits of pi, before and after the decimal point.
An AFP reporter who called the number hung up after three minutes, with the computer voice still going strong, having read roughly 600 digits of what could be the only number, irrational or otherwise, with its own holiday.
Pi is said to have been calculated for the first time by ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes and popularized by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737 -- 250 years before Pi Day was launched.
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When Shaw's daughter told him that March 14 was also Albert Einstein's birthday, the Pi holiday took hold.
The Greek letter pi looks like two columns at Stonehenge with a plank across the top. Pi, the number, is irrational and transcendental, meaning it will go on forever after the decimal without repeating a pattern.
With the help of computers, pi has been calculated to over a trillion digits past the decimal, which is why most people refer to it as plain old 3.14.
Americans tend to celebrate Pi Day with pies or pizzas, which are, generally speaking, round in shape, not to mention the fact that pie rhymes with pi, and pizza starts with it.
US technology company Raytheon on Monday delivered apple pies to schools within a 3.14-mile radius of the company's Massachusetts headquarters to celebrate Pi Day.
Music for the pie or pizza dinner could be the violin piece by Steven Rochen that uses the first 220 digits of pi after the decimal.
But Americans aren't the only ones who celebrate Pi Day. A German website (pi.highsign.de) allows users to compose their own pi song, choosing instruments, rhythmic speed and how many digits after the decimal they want their composition to run for.
Ukrainian artist Andrey Larionov has completed a mosaic called "Chaos" which is based on 100,000 digits of pi after the decimal -- or after the comma, as is the case in Ukraine and much of Europe.
But for a really good time on Pi Day, fans can call the US number (253) 243-2504 and hear a computer voice read out the digits of pi, before and after the decimal point.
An AFP reporter who called the number hung up after three minutes, with the computer voice still going strong, having read roughly 600 digits of what could be the only number, irrational or otherwise, with its own holiday.
Pi is said to have been calculated for the first time by ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes and popularized by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737 -- 250 years before Pi Day was launched.
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